At the beginning of June, ShipIt Day finally took place again – in its fifth edition for the first time at several development locations. So heads were not only spinning at the Windmill in Lingen (Ems), but also in Bogotá, Ho Chi Minh City and Kelowna. The motto of the two-day event: Don't panic and carry a towel! Wait, that was Douglas Adams. We mean of course: Don't panic and deliver the next day. Around 65 hitchhikers joined our 27-hour flight through the galaxy and prototyped a creative idea in 17 different missions. The participants were able to work on challenges posed in advance by various colleagues as well as on their own ideas.
In the 'Windmill' Through the Galaxy
At 10 am Lingen time, the Mission Control Team warmly welcomed the crew of the special "ShipIt Day" flight in a relaxed atmosphere. It didn't take long to fill the coffee tanks, load the candy storage containers, and fire up the cognitive engines. Then the mission started and all the participants got to brainstorming, designing and building. The creative ambience and the equipment of our spaceship "Windmill" (our creative space) created a real atmosphere of tinkering, where participants worked in teams on the chosen or set topics – from early morning until late at night. It was good that there was pizza for everyone in between, which satisfied hunger and gave the teams the opportunity to exchange ideas with each other.
Mission Accomplished!
The next morning, everyone went into the final sprint to prepare for the landing approach and the re-entry into the working atmosphere. But before that, the debriefing with final presentations was on the flight schedule. After each team had finished the five-minute presentation of their mission, symbolic winners were chosen.
This year, two teams from our site in Vietnam made it onto the winners' podium. First place was awarded to the project entitled ‘Working at the office registration & computer vision aided check-in’. Two colleagues from the Factory in Lingen came in second. They have worked on a transport trolley for the pressure chamber. Third place went again to colleagues from Ho Chi Minh City who developed an interactive real-time scrum poker. Congratulations to all of you – mission accomplished!
A Special Culture of Innovation
The organizing team thanked all participants. They had a lot of fun and were thrilled by the atmosphere, the commitment and passion of the teams as well as the results. ShipIt Day once again demonstrated our special culture of innovation.
About the ShipIt-Day
ShipIt Day generates innovative ideas and approaches to problems from everyday work at ROSEN. Colleagues can creatively tinker, conceptualize and prototype for 27 hours – without limits. The end result can be a prototype (hardware and/or software), a drawing or a prepared concept idea. The results are presented in a final presentation. Afterwards, the audience decides who has convinced the most.